Evolution of Basal Plane Dislocations during 4H-SiC Epitaxial Growth

The evolution of basal plane dislocations (BPDs) in 4H-SiC epitaxy during its growth is investigated by using two types of interrupted growth in conjunction with ultraviolet photoluminescence (UVPL) imaging of the dislocations. For the first, each epitaxial growth was stopped after 10-20 μm and a UVPL map was collected. For the second, changing the gas flow interrupted the growth and the BPDs were imaged at the end. The first sequence made it possible to track the formation of half-loop arrays and show that they arise from BPDs that glide perpendicular to the offcut direction. For both types, each interruption causes between 30 – 50% of the BPDs to be converted to threading edge dislocations (TEDs). This result suggests that using interrupted growth may be an alternate method to producing epitaxial layers with low BPD concentration.